TORONTO - BLUE PEARL MINING has agreed to pay US$575 million to acquire THOMPSON CREEK METALS, headquartered in Colorado. Blue Pearl believes the deal will make it the world's largest publicly traded, stand-alone molybdenum producer and one of the top five in the world.
Thompson Creek is a privately owned company with interests in two molybdenum mines. One is the Endako mine in British Columbia and the other is in Idaho. It also operates a refinery in Pennsylvania. The company's 2006 production is estimated at 26 million lb of molybdenum at an average operating cash cost of US$4.12/lb. Recent moly prices are nearing US$30/lb.
Blue Pearl plans to raise the money for the takeover through a combination of debt and equity. The company is also committed to paying Thompson Creek US$125 million on top of the sale price depending on the future price of molybdenum.
More information about Blue Pearl is available at www.BluePearl.ca or call Olav Svela, VP of investor relations, at 416-860-1438.
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